Holy Fire (at Jerusalem)

• About: Quick Reference:
  • The Ceremony of the Holy Light in Jerusalem, by Irene Economides [Orthodox Page]

• About: Eyewitness Accounts:
  • Holy Week and Pascha in Jerusalem, by Fr. Parthenius Ageev, (1855): [Orthodox Page]
  • Narrative of Fr. Antonios Stylianakis, MD, (1995): strongly emphasizes the miraculous aspects of the phenomenon. [Fr. A. Stylianakis]
  • The Miracle of the Holy Fire in Jerusalem, by Niels Christian Hvidt, (1998): The author is a lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. The article includes not only Dr. Hvidt's own narrative, but also an interview with Patriarch Diodoros I.

• Images:
  • Photos of Holy Week in Jerusalem, by Jeanne Clark [Willamette College]
  • Photographs of the Holy Fire, 1994, allegedly showing its miraculous nature. [Fr. A. Stylianakis]

  • The Distribution of the Sacred Fire, by Wm. Holman Hunt: This 1898 painting, now in Harvard's Fogg Museum, was the Pre-Raphaelite artist's last work: while painting it on location in Jerusalem, he began to go blind. Caution: This image was overtly meant as propaganda, ridiculing the "superstition," "fanaticism," and "priestcraft" of the Greeks and Armenians (with whom the Church of England was then engaged in an early version of "ecumenical dialogue"). Nonetheless, it is quite interesting as a glimpse, albeit distorted, of XIX Century Orthodox life. Because of the picture's size and detail, the online versions do not do it justice.
    • "Miracle of the Sacred Fire": Colour reproduction of picture. [Art Magick]
    • "The Miracle of the Holy Fire", in Replete with Meaning: William Holman Hunt and Typological Symbolism, by G. P. Landow: Discusses the picture's background. [Victorian Web]

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